MURRIETA, Calif. – Former San Diego State men's golfer Zihao Jin won the California State Open on Thursday in Murrieta, California at Bear Creek Golf Club. The recent SDSU grad shot a 6-under 66 on the final day to charge up the leaderboard and claim his first professional title.
Heading into the final day of competition, Jin was two strokes off the lead. He then rattled off four birdies on the back nine on Thursday, finishing six under on the day and won the title by two strokes. Jin finished his final round with nine birdies and only one bogey on the day. His score of 66 on the final day was the lowest score of the final round, while his 7-under 65 opening round tied for the second lowest single-day score of the tournament.
Jin shot 65-73-69-66 over the four days to win the title in 273 strokes. He finished the tournament with the most pars in the field with 66, and tied for third in birdies made with 22 over the course of the tournament. He finished at -15 to win the tournament, while Michael Block and Ryan Ellerbrock finished in a tie for second at -13.
While at San Diego State, Jin was named an all-Mountain West selection for the first time in his career during his senior season in 2021-22. He led the team with a 71.85 stroke average across 27 rounds and was the team's top finisher (or tied for the top spot) in four of his nine tournaments played during the 2021-22 season. Over the course of his Aztec career, Jin was named aSrixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar (2019-20), was a three-time Mountain West Scholar-Athlete (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21), and was a four-time Mountain West All-Academic Selection (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21).